The Fine Arts In Connection With The Church.

compasses than to design historical groups of figures . It should also be remembered that no artist —• and no architect such as we now want is an artist —can possibly do more than a certain number of works of art . All above that must be done by his

clerks , while he himself cannot have the time to properly think over even those he retains ( if he does retain any ) for his own special attention . One great remedy I would propose is a more general distribution of work among architects , and , at the

same time , a demand for hig her qualifications from them . They should also be paid as artists are paid , according to their merits , and not upon a percentage of work done . I have thus , according to the best of my ability , touched upon the present state of ecclesiastical decoration , and the means

for our future improvement . The great thing is to create a demand , by opening our churches every day , and all day long . The decoration will soon follow ; and a crop of artist-painters will arise which will be an ornament to our Church , and prove in this country that she follows up the proud

position she has taken up of late years , viz ., as the great patroness of the fine arts . At present the question is simpl y between art and prettinesses .

Masonic Notes And Queries.

MASONIC NOTES AND QUERIES .

IEISII OPERATIVE MASONS . In looking over the proceedings of one of the Irish Archa _ ological Societies , I discovered a paper ' - 'On the Secret Language of the Craftsmen of the Middle Ages in Ireland , " which contains some information

that may he interesting to my brethren in speculative Masonry . Aftei ? alluding to the secret marks which the operatives were in thc habit of placing ou the products of their heads ancl hands , the author states that they had also a dialect called " Dearlagair-nasair" which means in Irish "the language of the

, Masons . " This dialect , it appears , is still used among the Masons in the counties of Limerick , Clare , Waterford , and Cork , but principally iu the latter two counties . The following are a few words of this " Bearlagair : " Arrich means " a Mason ; " Limeen , " a trowel ; " . Rocliawn-tltour , " the hreeches ; " and

Gladeen , " the * knife . " These Masons guard their secrets and peculiar language with jealous care . They pride themselves highly on their Craft , and look clown with great contempt on us speculative Masons , as the following song which they are wont to sing over their foundation and finishing pots will testify . It is

entitled" THE IADS WITH a-JlEIIl AMlO >* S O-T . " You Masons brave , that courage have , To execute each artist ' s plan , I pray give ear to \ vhat yon hear , Ancl that from a Mason ' s son . Bet Babel's height not you affright , Or the temple that the heavens planned ; That pile of state ivas made comjilete , And built by lads with their aprons on .

" On Egypt ' s plains they tool * great pains To raise the Pyramids so high ; Who had them made it is not said , Nor can they tell the reason why . How thoy had stood before the Flood , For to deny it no man can ; But this they may sincerely say , They were built by lads with their aprons on .

" And you Masons hr ' ittM take no delight , In what they call Freemasonry , Nor toith their mock signs , their squares and lines , Or any of their d d mystery . For it is well they know it was oy you , That all their wondrous works were done , They'd pledge their souls to steal our trowels , And mock us with their silk aprons on . " —J . KINGSTON , P . Prov . G-. C . for Dorset .

JACQUES DE MOLAI . Will some Knight Templar kindly tell me why Jacques de Molai is recognised as a saint in Russia ? His portrait is very common- in Russian houses , and occupies a prominent place among the saints recognised by the Greek Church , in the houses of the nobility and peasantry . —Ix TE DOJIINE SPEKAVI .

THE "XEW OEUEK IN AMERICA . [ There is a new secret order in America . The Daily Telegraph of Tuesday last , in a letter from its New York correspondent , has given such au interesting account of it that we feel it ought to be preserved iu these columns for future reference . Will some of our American readers kindly furnish ns with a copy

of Mr . Holt ' s report ? We should very much like to see the orig inal from which the following account has been condensed : — " The Hon . Joseph Holt , Secretary of War during the closing days of Mr . Buchanan's Administration , ancl Judge-Advocate General under Secretary Stanton ,

has just published a remarkable report , which really carries one hack to the days of the French Revolution , when secret societies were so much in vogue , and exerted so tremendous ancl baleful an influence . This document would occupy no less than eight or ten columns of The Daily Telegraph , if it were printed in full , and , as much of it is altogether unimportant to your readers , I shall make a brief abstract of it for their benefit . It sketches the origin and

history of the organisation known as the ' Knights of the Golden Circle '—regarding which so much has lately been said—gives its eA-fcent and members the strength of its armed force , its ritual oath and interior forms , its written principles , its specific purposes and operations , and the sources whence the statement made was derived . Judge-Advocate Holt states that

the organisation first developed itself in the west in the year 1 S 62 , about the period of the first conscription of troops , which is aimed to obstruct and resist . Originally known in certain localities as the ' Mutual Protection Society , ' the ' Circle of Honour , ' or the - Circle , ' or ' Knights of the Mighty Host , ' but more

widely as the ' Knights of the Golden Circle , ' it was , he says , ' simply an inspiration of the rebellion , being little other than an extension among the disloyal and disaffected at the North of the association of the latter name , which had existed for some years at the South , and from which it derived all the chief features of its organisation . ' " In the summer and fall of 1863 he states that General Sterling Prince , of Missouri , who was one of